Cooperative or collaborative robot devices, i.e., cobots, are devices that generally require a human operator to interact physically with the robot to perform a task, such as manipulating a tool, rather than the robot acting relatively autonomously based on little or no human instruction. Such cobots are particularly useful for performing tasks requiring a level of precision that is difficult or impossible for a human to attain without assistance. For example, microsurgery, i.e., surgery requiring manipulation on a sub-millimeter scale, is a task that is particularly well-suited for the use of a cobot device.
Cobot devices and methods currently available in the art include the cobots described by Colgate and Peshkin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,952,796); the method of cooperative control of a surgical tool described by Taylor et al. (US Patent App. Pub. No. 2013/0296884 and US Patent App. Pub. No. 2013/0304258): the steady hand micromanipulation robot described by Olds and Taylor (US Patent App. Pub. No. 2013/0131867); and the DA VINCI™ surgical system by Intuitive Surgical Operations (see e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,902,560, 7,398,707, 7,914,522, and 8,528,440).
However, currently available devices for cooperative robot control can be extremely expensive. Further, these devices often provide a high degree of freedom for the tool that is being controlled, at the expense of providing optimal precision and stability.
Thus, there is a continuing need in the art for devices and methods that can provide stable, high-precision controlled motion of a tool. The present invention addresses this continuing need in the art.